Umrum,

I don't really like swimming either - just using it to illustrate that there are sports with apparantly very little spectator value that have been made to appeal to the general public! I also don't have a problem with people gambling BUT unless racing makes some changes it is going to be in serious trouble as more people spend their gambling dollars elsewhere. The problem for racing is that currently if the gamblers go elsewhere the sport is dead because it relies almost exclusively on the gambling $$$ for survival. A year ago my gambling "spend" was 99% racing, 1% sports (the occassional punt on a footy match) - now it is 75% sports (mainly tennis), 25% racing. Why? Tennis, to me, is more interesting, more predictable and the bookie margin is smaller so it's easier to make money (with the help of the propunter package). It is easy to understand the rules of Tennis, they are generally enforced equally and there is a regular circuit with the same players playing each week. In racing we have too many horses racing in too many races with a stewards that seem to be very reluctant to enforce the rules.

One thing that would certainly help is a clear class structure as ET posted - each horse should start at the bottom and work their way up with a certain standard needed to move to the next class and the classes should be the SAME Australia-wide. If a horse fails to perform in their current class then they should be "demoted" back to the previous class. Horses should not even be able to start in an actual race until they have met a minimum time standard at a barrier trial.

As to changing public opinion - of course you can it just takes time. If you start putting forward a consistant sport with interesting features you will attract back the disenchanted fans and they will bring their friends with them - if you don't do anything the industry will probably die eventually as people take their money elsewhere. It is not like the old days where horse racing had a virtual monopoly on the gambling market for the average person - now you can bet on practically every sport - (even Chess!) - so racing has to start competing for the public interest.

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